Former Vernon janitor alleges hostile environment in suit

VERNON — A former custodian of the Vernon Township School District is alleging that the school and two of its employees created a hostile work environment and ultimately fired him out of retaliation, according to a lawsuit.

Wayne McCaw, a custodian of the district for 10 years, is claiming that the Walnut Ridge principal and district's assistant superintendent filed false disciplinary action, changed his work hours and assignments, denied him worker's compensation, created a hostile work environment, and did other retaliatory acts in order to be able to fire him, the lawsuit stated. He is now seeking an unspecified amount of compensation and damages.

Vernon Township Superintendent John Alfieri said that, at the advice of legal counsel, he cannot comment on the lawsuit. Calls to McCaw and his lawyer, Christine Carey Lilore, of Wyckoff, were also not returned.

The lawsuit, which names the Board of Education, school district, assistant superintendent Barbara Linkenheimer and principal Pauline Anderson as defendants, was filed in state Superior Court in Sussex County on Feb. 25.

The first count of the lawsuit states that beginning in 2007, McCaw reported and objected to actions that he believed were in violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), a federal law that governs workplace environments, and other district policies. The lawsuit outlines 12 alleged examples of these incidents, including:

• McCaw complained to OSHA when a contractor caused silica dust from concrete cutting to flow through the hallways of the school. The lawsuit states that OSHA fined Vernon for this violation of public health law, but Anderson had indicated to McCaw and other custodians who complained that they would be written up for disciplinary action.

• According to the lawsuit, McCaw was given a verbal warning and memo in September 2007 for making Anderson feel threatened and unsafe, especially when he would walk outside of her office window to remove cones.

• McCaw was hospitalized in May 2008 for three days for what he believed to be a cardiac event due to being "served with the false and malicious disciplinary memo ... which was given to him by defendant Linkenheimer." He attempted to file for worker's compensation, but Linkenheimer and Anderson allegedly exchanged emails joking about the hospitalization and falsified records to indicate the injury was not work related. Thus, McCaw used his sick time for the three-day hospitalization and following months of time off. In addition, the lawsuit stated that there were days when McCaw did not call in sick in time to be listed as absent without permission, which then resulted in receiving no compensation for the sick day.

The lawsuit said that McCaw's school assignments were changed throughout 2009 and 2010 from Walnut School to the high school to Lounsberry Middle School, where his hours were changed from 3 p.m.-11 p.m. to 11 p.m.-7 a.m. His stipend for his position of foreman was also removed, according to the lawsuit.

McCaw received memos on March 6 and 8 that said he had not locked the front main entrance, the lawsuit said. He was told that video proof existed of him not locking the door, but the video proof was never supplied to his attorney.

"Upon information and belief, the video establishes the plaintiff had in fact done all of his job duties and there was no proof of plaintiff failing to lock the door," the lawsuit stated.

The Vernon Board of Education fired McCaw over the unlocked door incident on March 16, 2012, nearly 10 years after he started with the district. The lawsuit said that a newspaper article came out soon after the termination indicating that a faulty locking mechanism on the doors of the school had to be replaced.

"Therefore there was no proof of plaintiff having failed to lock the doors which had faulty locks and were replaced by defendant Board of Education," the lawsuit stated.

The 17-page lawsuit, which outlines three other counts regarding alleged retaliation, civil rights violations and disability denial, is asking for damages, interest, attorney's fees and costs of the lawsuit, and any other relief the court determines.

In Case You Missed It

In 1881, five short line regional railroads combined with the New Jersey Midland Railroad to form the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway. This new line played an important role in hauling coal out of Pennsylvania to the greater New York metropolitan